Will we be able to carry over save files from the beta into the actual game? I'm planning something big and would like to lay the basics out on the map and actually build it when the game launches
Of course we will tell you; we're just waiting on some final information from different teams before we have all the details, but next week you should get all the Beta information you need.
Actually, the very first beta - the one that happened just before the official game launch and thus is comparable to the upcoming Planet Zoo beta - did carry over to the life version. Whether or not this was a wise decision (considering the credits made by exploits that got fixed later) is another question.